The total time you can stay on an R-1 religious worker visa is 5 years, and the special immigrant religious worker green card still means waiting your turn after the petition is filed

The R-1 religious worker visa is the visa given to people who come to the United States to do religious work, such as pastors, priests, Buddhist monks, and nuns. At first you can receive up to 30 months, and with extensions you can stay up to 5 years in total. When the 5 years are used up, no further extension is possible, so you must leave the United States for the time being, and to come back you need a new approval and a new visa. In the past, you had to spend 1 year abroad after leaving before you could receive it again, but that condition no longer exists. You can work only for the religious organization that petitioned for your visa, and the spouse and children who come with you cannot work. There are two main paths to a green card within those 5 years. One is the special immigrant religious worker green card, and the other is the regular employment-based green card in which a church or temple acts as the employer. Either way, it can take several years.

With the special immigrant religious worker green card, you still wait for your turn after the petition is filed

"In the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the green card order chart the Department of State publishes each month, the turn at which a special immigrant religious worker green card can be issued reaches people who filed a petition before December 15, 2022."

The special immigrant religious worker green card falls in the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4), the fourth of the five employment-based preference categories. The church where the person will work, or the person himself or herself, files a petition (Form I-360) with USCIS, and after it is approved, when the turn to file the application comes, the person files a green card application (Form I-485). The petition is the document asking that this person be accepted as an immigrant, and the day it is properly received is the date that sets your place in line.

The Visa Bulletin has two date charts. One shows the cutoff date for filing the green card application (the Dates for Filing chart), and the other shows the cutoff date for a green card to be issued (the Final Action Dates chart). For people born in Korea, those who can file the application in October are people who filed a petition before January 1, 2025, and those who can receive a green card are people who filed before December 15, 2022. A person filing the application now has waited more than 1 year and 9 months, and a person receiving a green card has waited more than 3 years and 9 months.

USCIS decides each month which of the two charts to use for accepting applications, and for October it uses the Dates for Filing chart. Dates can also move backward, and in October some employment-based dates did move backward. When the turn of a person who files a petition today will come cannot be known in advance.

Experience gained in Korea also counts toward the 2 years required for the petition

"The regulation provides that a person must have carried on religious work continuously during the 2 years immediately before the petition, and it states that the work may have been done abroad or inside the United States."

A special immigrant religious worker petition carries conditions on membership and experience. For the 2 years immediately before the petition, the person must have belonged to the same denomination (a group of churches that follow the same doctrine and organization) as the church filing the petition, and during those 2 years the person must have carried on religious work without interruption. There is no requirement that the work have been done in the United States. Work done in Korea also counts toward these 2 years, and the work done before does not have to be exactly the same as the work to be done in the United States. If the work was done inside the United States, it must have been work authorized under immigration law.

Even if there was a break from work just before the petition, the experience from before the break continues to be recognized if the conditions are met. The person must still have been employed as a religious worker during the break, the break must not have exceeded 2 years, and the reason for the break must have been religious training or a sabbatical (a year off from work). The person also must not have worked in the United States without authorization during that time.

A pastor who worked in Korea for more than 2 years as a member of the same denomination and then came to the United States without a break can, if the conditions are met, file the petition in the first year of R-1 status. If the person does not use the Korean experience and files the petition after completing 2 years in the United States, 3 years of R-1 remain. Within those 3 years, the petition must be approved, and the person's turn to file the application must also arrive.

Pay received in the United States is proved with IRS documents such as a W-2 (a document that lists a year's wages and taxes) or tax returns. Experience gained abroad must likewise be proved with documents that are just as reliable. It is a good idea to gather records of denomination membership, the period worked and the duties performed, and the pay received before leaving Korea.

The church filing the petition must also meet conditions. There must be an IRS tax-exemption determination letter issued to the church or to its denomination, and the position must be one in which the person works an average of at least 35 hours per week and is paid. USCIS may visit the church in person to investigate before or after approving the petition, and if it has decided to investigate before approval, the church must pass that investigation for the petition to be approved.

Under current law, the special immigrant religious worker green card for non-minister religious workers lasts until December 11, 2026

"According to USCIS guidance, the special immigrant religious worker green card for non-minister religious workers was extended until December 11 by a law signed on September 2, 2026, and the green card must be received by that day."

The special immigrant religious worker green card has two branches. One is for ministers. The other is for people who have taken a vow of lifelong religious life, such as nuns or members of religious orders, and for people who carry out a religious function that the denomination recognizes. Under the regulation, a minister is a person whom the denomination has formally authorized, who has been trained according to the denomination's standards, and who leads worship. A lay person who preaches without such authorization is not included.

The December 11 deadline applies only to the non-minister branch. Filing a petition by that day is not enough; the process must be completed through receiving the green card. The same goes for the spouse and children who come with the worker. Since the turn at which a green card can be issued now reaches people who filed a petition in December 2022, it is hard for someone who is just starting to meet this deadline. The deadline can be extended only if the law is changed again. The R-1 regulation has no such end date.

An employment-based green card with the church as employer starts with the Department of Labor process

"According to Department of Labor figures, the average processing time for PERM labor certification applications as of August 2026 is 336 days, and no separate average is given for applications that were sent to additional review (audit)."

Labor certification is the process in which the Department of Labor confirms that there are not enough U.S. workers available to work in that position. If a church or temple acts as the employer and obtains this confirmation, a religious worker can also apply for a regular employment-based green card. A position that requires a master's degree falls in the second preference (EB-2), and a position that requires 2 or more years of training or experience falls in the third preference (EB-3). A position that can be filled with less training or experience than that also falls in the third preference, but it has a separate line.

The employer first obtains a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor, which sets how much must be paid for the position. Once the determination is issued, the employer places recruitment ads and, after that, files the labor certification application. The day this application is received is the date that sets your place in line. As of October 5, the applications the Department of Labor is reviewing are ones that came in about ten months earlier, in December 2025. Once labor certification is issued, the church files a petition with USCIS.

In the October Visa Bulletin, the cutoff date for filing a green card application (the Dates for Filing chart) is March 15, 2026 for the second preference and August 1, 2024 for the third preference. People who filed a labor certification application before that date are covered, which means that the later the date, the shorter the line. Compared with the special immigrant religious worker green card's January 1, 2025, the second preference has a shorter line and the third preference has a longer line. An employment-based green card also starts later, because you can get in line only after finishing the prevailing wage determination and recruitment.

Comparing the cutoff dates for a green card to be issued (the Final Action Dates chart) gives a different result. The second preference is January 1, 2025 and the third preference is May 15, 2024, and both are later than the special immigrant religious worker green card's December 15, 2022, so their lines are shorter. For the positions in the third preference that have a separate line (the "other workers" line), the cutoff date for filing an application is June 1, 2022 and the cutoff date for a green card to be issued is January 1, 2022, so in both charts the line is longer than for the special immigrant religious worker green card. For the second and third preferences, if the turn to file the application has come, the petition and the green card application can also be filed at the same time.

The church must show that its ability to pay the promised wage continues from the day the labor certification application is filed until the green card is issued. The evidence is one of the following: annual financial reports, federal tax returns, or financial statements audited by an accountant (statements that summarize financial condition); bank account records are supplementary material. A church that does not file tax returns will generally need to prepare one of the other two.

As a rule, the green card application must be filed while you are in lawful status. So the turn to file the application must come before the 5 years of R-1 are used up.

The period during which a person who has filed the application waits for it to be reviewed is treated as a period of stay authorized even after the R-1 deadline has passed, so unlawful presence does not accumulate. However, that does not create lawful status, and after R-1 ends the person can work only after obtaining employment authorization separately. If the person leaves the United States without USCIS's advance parole (advance travel permission), the application is treated as abandoned.

Conclusion

There are three things to do now. First, add up the days you have actually stayed in the United States on R-1 and calculate the date on which the 5 years will be used up. Second, if you are a minister, gather the records of the 2 years you worked in Korea immediately before the petition and check whether you can file a special immigrant religious worker petition now. Third, the church should review its financial documents and compare which of the two paths can reach the green card application before the 5 years are used up.

Non-minister religious workers should look at the employment-based green card first, because the special immigrant religious worker green card may end on December 11, 2026. An R-1 extension is not denied solely because a green card petition or a labor certification application has been filed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How many years can I stay in the United States on an R-1 religious worker visa?

At first you can receive up to 30 months, and with extensions you can stay up to 5 years in total. When the 5 years are used up, no further extension is possible, so you must leave the United States for the time being, and to come back you need a new approval and a new visa. In the past, you had to spend 1 year abroad after leaving before you could receive it again, but that condition no longer exists.

Q. Can the 2 years of experience required for a special immigrant religious worker petition be gained in Korea?

Yes. The regulation requires that a person have carried on religious work without interruption for the 2 years immediately before the petition, but there is no requirement that the work have been done in the United States. Work done in Korea also counts toward these 2 years, and the work done before does not have to be exactly the same as the work to be done in the United States. Experience gained abroad must be proved with reliable documents.

Q. Can a religious worker who is not a pastor also receive a green card through the special immigrant religious worker category?

Under current law, it is available until December 11, 2026. Filing a petition by that day is not enough; the process must be completed through receiving the green card. In the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the turn at which a green card can be issued reaches people who filed a petition before December 15, 2022, so it is hard for someone who is just starting to meet this deadline. This deadline applies only to the non-minister branch.

Disclaimer: This column provides general information and is not legal advice for a particular case. Individual immigration matters should be discussed with a qualified immigration attorney.

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